Single Source Procurement: STD Surveillance - Public Health Campaign

Pursuant to New York State Finance Law § 163.10(b), The New York State Department of Health is presenting the following summary of relevant circumstances, and material and substantial reasons why a competitive procurement was not feasible.

The Public Health Campaign (PHC) was initially funded in NYS in 1992-93 fiscal year to support improvements in public health through:

STD education about syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia

Prevention activities such as STD diagnosis and treatment

Disease control activities such as surveillance, field epidemiology, case interviews, and partner elicitation/notification.

The goal is to strengthen the infrastructure of the disease intervention services in areas with the highest rates of STDs.

A competitive solicitation is being developed to re-procure these services, however there was an unexpected delay in this procurement. Therefore, DOH is seeking a one year extension until 3/31/2015 to avoid a gap in critical STD prevention activities to the high risk catchment areas that are currently being serviced. The delay in the procurement came about, when in 2013, Public Health Law Article 23 was amended to permit County Health Departments to seek reimbursement for STD diagnosis and treatment services provided directly or through contract providers. Under this statutory amendment, County Health Departments will need to transition from the delivery of free STD clinical services to the implementation of systems and infrastructure for STD billing. The Public Health Campaign funds are intended to support County Health Department STD services including clinical services. Given the Article 23 amendments and the potential for County Health Departments to generate revenue for STD services, the Bureau of STD Prevention and Epidemiology (BSTDPE) delayed the issuance of the PHC solicitation to ensure that funds would be directed to STD services not covered by billing/reimbursement.

Contractors were originally awarded these contracts as a result of the competitive procurement process. This is a 12 month extension of the contracts under the same terms, conditions, and pricing authorized under the existing contracts. The single source extension period will allow for the continuation of critical services pending outcome of a new competitive procurement to obtain these services.